Name: Eleanor Bray
Hometown: Portland, OR
Major: Anthropology
College/Year: Barnard ‘14
Eleanor Bray: Funny Girl to the Max
It’s not easy being funny. There’s always a fine line between trying too hard and pulling off a killer joke. Yet I can confidently tell you that Eleanor Bray is effortlessly hilarious and cool and known for her comical ways. You might have seen her around campus sporting purple hair, or performing with her improv troupe Control Top. She’s a writer, comedian, and well-deserving of this week’s celebrity status.
To say that Eleanor is involved around campus is an understatement. She’s Co-President of Control Top, Columbia’s all female long form improv group, events coordinator/publicity and staff writer for the Jester Comedy Magazine, Co-writer of this year’s XMAS8! and Entertainment Chair of Columbia’s Dance Marathon. In playing down her impressive resume she added, “I also have a job at the Barnard Library Circulation Desk as head flirt coordinator.”
Apparently being funny runs in the family. In asking about her favorite comedians, she mentioned her dad, Thom Bray, or as she calls “the King of Comedy.” (Though the name, she clarified, is simply a joke). Growing up, Oklahoma sing-a-longs were the norm and actively encouraged in her family. While you may picture the family from Stepbrothers singing “Sweet Child O’Mine,” it was really not that bizarre. She simply comes from a theatrical family that fully supports all of her endeavors.
Eleanor started doing improv her freshman year at Barnard and auditioned her sophomore year for Control Top. If you’ve never seen Control Top perform, all I can say is go. Eleanor loves getting on stage, creating characters on the spot, and miraculously, watching people laugh and clap in return. Yet she did not comment on how challenging improv can be; you have to be smart, witty, and clever. In watching Eleanor perform it’s obvious that she is all of the above.
In a few weekends, you can find Eleanor at Columbia’s Dance Marathon, a charity event that raises money for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. She will be shamelessly dancing the night away. She described herself to me as uncoordinated, so I’m looking forward to seeing what dance moves she pulls off. And good news, Eleanor chose the music, which means lots of Ke$ha.
At the moment Eleanor is in the midst of working on XMAS8! the student produced holiday musical she co-wrote with Bijan Samareh. After performing in XMAS7! last year, she applied to be a writer. “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a bunch of people do whatever I wanted on stage,” she told me. While the plot of XMAS is still a secret, the audience is in for a treat. XMAS! in one phrase can either be described as “Flirty, fun, and fabulous elves” or “When everything you thought you knew about being an elf goes to shit.” It seems that Eleanor will be putting her experience as head flirt coordinator to good use.
* Columbia’s Dance Marathon is November 23-24
**XMAS!8 will have two performances on December 9th. Hilarity will ensue!